From curbside pick-up to a free-standing restaurant in Old Louisville, the Seafood Lady relied on word of mouth to become a Louisville sensation. Now, the Seafood Lady is becoming an inspiration to small business owners.Chefs Nichelle and Luke Thurston sparked a Seafood Lady craze, selling Florida-style seafood curbside to the Muhammad Ali and his family. “(I) had to start in my home and didn't have any other means to start a restaurant out of my home. (I) put a picture on social media and people went crazy,” Nichelle Thurston said.“Sometimes we get here and line is out the door through parking lot, so it's a real blessing,” Luke Thurston said.All on word of mouth and social media activity, the Thurstons have parlayed their business from their home to a food truck and now a brick and mortar building on the corner of Seventh and Oak streets.The Seafood Lady is open Wednesday through Saturday, the only days Nichelle Thurston had to make her dream a reality because of school.Fans come in droves from everywhere, garnering local respect.“They prepare it with love. You can tell that and pride that they have in it their whole staff gets into it as well,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said.The pride in the food stems from their vision to be a successful small business grown from inner-city roots.In Louisville, Fischer said, small business is the heartbeat of the economy, bringing in $23 billion a year and employing 15,000 people.“I love small business, two-thirds of all people in community work there, majority of new jobs, love checking out new restaurants,” Fischer said.“You can do something active and do something for community that you can be a leader,” Luke Thurston said.The Seafood Lady just passed the one-year mark since the Facebook post that started it all.Her family owns three other businesses in Ohio, Maryland and Florida, to catch and ship fresh seafood to Louisville.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

From curbside pick-up to a free-standing restaurant in Old Louisville, the Seafood Lady relied on word of mouth to become a Louisville sensation. Now, the Seafood Lady is becoming an inspiration to small business owners.